1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rerailer apparatus and, more particularly, to a rerailer that can be contained within mining rail cars.
2. Background Art
The accidental derailing of rail cars, including locomotives, is not uncommon, especially in the underground mining industry. When a rail car derails, some type of lifting device is required to lift and move the car over the rails for rerailing. Two general types of lifting devices are known in the prior art. The first type is independent of the rail car and must be positioned near the car in order to lift and move the derailed car. This type of rerailer is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,980,035; 3,828,689; 4,090,453; 4,825,771; and 5,203,264. The second type of rerailer is mounted to the rail car as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,684,641; 4,606,273; 4,809,615; and 5,111,749.
Both types of known lifting devices present problems to the underground mining industry since the available space to maneuver around a derailed car is usually quite limited. Because of the space constraints in an underground mine, the mining industry has avoided both the known types of lifting devices due to their size, complexity or need for additional support in order to operate. Today, the underground mining industry continues the dangerous practice of lifting a derailed rail car with a hand jack, one end of the car at a time, pushing the car toward the rails until the jack flies out from under the car, and then repeating these steps as many times as needed until the car is once again positioned on the rails. This practice is dangerous to mine workers, is abusive to the equipment and can take up to four hours to rerail a car.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a compact and simple lifting apparatus which can be contained within a rail car to aid in rerailing a rail car, particularly a rail car used in underground mining, in a quick and safe manner.